Principal Designer

<h2>About Maven</h2> <p>Maven is reinventing professional education.</p> <p>For five years, we’ve been the category-defining platform for cohort-based courses, helping 50K+ alumni and 500K+ users learn from world-class experts.</p> <p>AI is moving fast. While many believe it will replace teachers, we believe the opposite: <strong>Human expertise will matter more than ever.</strong></p> <p>Learning needs are evolving just as quickly. Sometimes you want a multi-week transformation. Other times, you need a two-hour 1-day workshop, a quick coaching session, or the right resource to unblock you.</p> <p>Since April 2026, Maven has expanded to support all of it: the home for human expertise on the internet. A place where people don’t just consume information, but <strong>learn directly from humans</strong>.</p> <p>—</p> <p>Maven is a founder-led company—our CEO, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaganbiyani/">Gagan</a> co-founded Udemy, and our CTO, <a href="https://shreyans.org/">Shreyans</a>, was the first engineer at Venmo. We’ve raised $25M from Andreessen Horowitz, First Round, and top industry angels. We’re a tight-knit team of 25, on track to profitability while growing over 2X YoY.</p> <hr> <h2>Role overview</h2> <p>We’re looking for a <strong>Principal Product Designer</strong> to help define this next chapter of Maven.</p> <p>This is an experienced IC role for someone who operates at the intersection of&nbsp;<strong>product strategy, systems thinking, and exceptional craft</strong>. You’ll work directly with CEO and leadership to shape how Maven bring this vision of human expertise to life.</p> <p>As one of the most senior designers at Maven, you’ll define new product surfaces, shape strategy, and build systems that scale across an evolving platform.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h2>What you’ll do</h2> <ul> <li><strong>Shape product strategy and set design vision:</strong>&nbsp;Lead the design vision for complex, cross-functional initiatives, defining strategic direction and ensuring experiences align with both customer and business goals.</li> <li><strong>Simplify complex problems:</strong>&nbsp;Translate ambiguous product challenges into clear, elegant, and accessible design solutions.</li> <li><strong>Elevate design quality at scale:</strong>&nbsp;Champion strong visual design craft, thoughtful interaction design, and scalable visual systems. Lead by example and set the bar for design quality at scale.</li> <li><strong>Drive cross-functional strategy:</strong>&nbsp;Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Marketing to define holistic customer-centered strategies that drive high impact.</li> <li><strong>Leverage AI-driven workflows:</strong>&nbsp;Apply AI-powered tools within the design process to accelerate ideation to production.</li> <li><strong>Lead through influence:</strong>&nbsp;Provide design leadership and mentorship across the company, elevate the work of others without formal people management.</li> </ul> <hr> <h2>Design with AI at Maven</h2> <p>This is evolving quickly, but here’s how designers at Maven work with AI today:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Design, code, and prototyping are increasingly unified.</strong> As a team, we prefer to use Claude Code and MCP workflows to move quickly from idea to production. Designers are also free to experiment and evolve their own tool stack.</li> <li><strong>We build our own leverage.</strong> Designers are encouraged to create internal tools and workflows to eliminate repetitive work, accelerate asset production, and more.</li> <li><strong>Experimentation is encouraged.</strong> We provide monthly stipends and encourage designers to explore new tools.</li> <li><strong>Optimize for impact.</strong> What matters is how quickly ideas turn into real product. We do not track token usage or number of PRs.</li> </ul> <hr> <h2>You should apply if you have</h2> <ul> <li>8–10+ years of experience designing digital products, including time operating at a Lead or Principal level</li> <li>A track record of owning ambiguous, high-impact problems and turning them into clear product direction</li> <li>Exceptional visual and interaction craft, with a high bar for quality and detail</li> <li>Strong systems thinking, designing for scale rather than one-off solutions</li> <li>AI fluency, with experience integrating AI into your workflow to increase speed and/or exploration</li> <li>Excellent communication and storytelling skills to influence cross-functional partners and leadership</li> <li>Experience shaping product direction and strategy, not just executing within it</li> </ul> <hr> <h2>Team &amp; Culture</h2> <p>Design is a strategic partner at Maven. We work closely with founders and cross-functional leaders to shape the roadmap and deeply understand our customers. We move quickly, iterate often, and value people who take ownership and bring strong perspectives.</p> <p>Our EPD team is small (3 PMs, 3 Designers, 7 Engineers), but highly leveraged. As a Principal Designer, your impact will be felt across the entire product and company—especially as we expand formats, scale the business, and redefine how people learn from experts.</p> <p>We value people who:</p> <ul> <li>Think like owners and operate with high agency</li> <li>Care deeply about craft and product quality</li> <li>Communicate clearly and challenge ideas constructively</li> <li>Are comfortable with ambiguity and proactive in defining direction</li> <li>Focus on high-leverage work that drives real impact</li> </ul> <hr> <h2>&nbsp;</h2> <p>Open to anyone within +1/-1 US/Canadian time zones.</p> <p>Salary range: $200-270k, with strong equity and benefits.&nbsp;<br><br></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>